Gaming machines, such as slot machines and video poker machines, have been a cornerstone of the gaming industry for several years. Different players, changing popularity of types of games, geographic location of a gaming machine on a casino floor, range of amounts that can be wagered, time of day and day of the week may cause players to be attracted to different types of gaming machines. Casino operators consequently monitor the amount of play of different types and wagering limits of gaming machines and manage the availability of different games to maximize profitability to the operator. Therefore, there is a continuing need for gaming machine manufacturers to provide the operator with increased control of reconfigurable gaming machines.
A centralized gaming controller may have responsibility for reconfiguring remote gaming machines to provide different games and/or variations of games such as the range of the amounts that can be wagered. Such a system permits the operator to change a gaming machine (remote terminal) from one game to another and to vary characteristics of a game. This gives the operator an opportunity to advantageously schedule games and game characteristics being offered to the players to maximize profits. However, a malfunction of the controlling server or communication link between the server and the gaming machines could result in the gaming machines remaining in an undesired mode of operation for longer than anticipated where the server is responsible for implementing changes in gaming machine operation. This could result in lower profits to the operator, e.g. being unable to change a low minimum wager limit used during a weekday to a higher minimum wager limit during a peak interval such as a Saturday evening.